BAT VK-250SE and VK-3iX/SE

I have a BAT VK200 and VK5i and love them. They are just so musical. I have owned quite a few amps and pre's and this combo is one of my favorites. I know what you are looking at is a few steps higher than mine but I can recommend BAT.

A friend of mine has a ML 334 and a VK500 and overall prefers the BAT.

Hi Sally,
I have owned a Classe CA-200 amp and CP-60 preamp before, and it was a very nice SS setup.
I have also owned nine BAT products, including the VK-600SE amp and VK-51SE preamp. I've also auditioned the VK-3iXSE for 6 weeks in my system. I would think the BAT pairing you are considering would be a very nice step up from the Classe set that you have. I found the VK-3iXSE to be quite a pleasure, and a good value in it's price range.

A word of caution though, you may find tubes to be highly addictive sonically, and may not be able to go back to SS again and live happily. Just a word of warning. :)

Cheers,
John

I have to agree with JMCgrogan2. Years ago I had Classe CA200 and a CP 50. I went with a VK200 and VK50SE at the time. Since then have stayed with BAT stepping up along the way...

Nothing wrong with your current setup...Just BAT stuff will amaze you IMO...

Hi John.
Thanks for the info.
I am also looking at keeping my CAM-200 mono's and getting getting a BAT pre # VK-32SE.
What are your thoughts and have you heard any feedback on the VK-32SE ?
I've mixed tube and solid state before and got good results.
What's in your system?
Thanks.
Sally

Hi Sally,

Well I'm not sure of the input impedence of the Classe CAM-200's, if it's over 20K you should not have a problem. The BAT amps usually have very high input impedences, 100K or higher, which makes them very good matches with tube preamps.

That being said, I have owned a VK-31SE/50SE/51SE, and I also had a chance to audition the VK-32SE as well as the VK-3iXSE. I was not very impressed with the VK-32SE, I thought it's midrange was sweeter, but was not as powerful or dynamic as the 31/51SE's. I actually preffered the VK-3iXSE sonically to the VK-32SE too. The VK-32SE had more features, like polarity invert, balance control, etc. Personally, I would look for a dealer left over VK-31/51SE, a VK-3iXSE, or better yet, a ARC LS-26 over a VK-32SE.
FWIW, I see that Upscale Audio is selling brand new VK-31SE's w/ full warranty for less than $4K, here's a link:

http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?preatube&1206812271

Currently I am using a ARC Ref 3 preamp with a BAT VK-75SE amplifier, and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Cheers,
John